Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Faith47 Paints For All the Right Reasons

Recently Faith 47 sent me an email which included a petition to sign regarding a Graffiti by-law in Cape town that would prevent her from being able to legally make her public murals. I signed it and then emailed her immediately to ask a few brief questions about her work in relation to this possible new by-law.

Do you ask permission from landlords before you paint a mural? sometimes... mostly - depending where... but in the townships it really wouldnt go down with out some communication with the community.

the community power is pretty strong there. and especially where people are very poor its important to maintain a level of respect on all levels.

Are murals done for free?yip... the larger ones i need to source funding for... mostly i fund them myself.... its just paint and time really.

If so why do you paint for free?the best things in life are free. money is a dirty dirty thing.of course we all need it.... but essentially the artwork on the streets is free. in the philosophy that life is free. that communication should be free. its not work its love. and you shouldnt pay for that. doing things for free is working against the grain of the capitalist system that sais everything has a financial value. stocks. land. culture. people. were questioning that. throwing it out the window. were saying everything has value and its not financial. were not for sale. not commodoties. were people. with feelings and complexities. and thoughts and emotions that the imf. the world bank and advertising industries cannot have vested interests in. its idealistic yes... beautiful!

What is the communities involvement in what you do?involvement. - not much. its you painting... maybe sharing a beer or two with the house owner or your mates. but mostly the communities are not very aware of the value of art and people tend to think your doing an advert... you have to really explain that its not an advert and why anyone in their right mind would spend their time and energy on something that might not last or is not getting paid for...

How are the murals received by the community?one gets mostly positive reactions. besides the rich conservative in his 4x4 who wants to critisize.... the average man on the street is interested and engages with you....of course its the youth are influenced the most.....